ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that both broadcasters and publishers are blurring the distinction between commercial and non-commercial media. Another form of hidden advertising is product placement in movies. The chapter describes movie studios enter lucrative deals with product manufacturers to weave brands into scripts and movie sets. Emboldened by their success in Hollywood, marketers are also inserting their products into Television shows, books, and Broadway plays. One of the most sinister line-blurring innovations is the video news release. Infomercials invariably seek to make viewers forget that they are watching a commercial and believe that the advertised product is really the subject of a talk show or news report. Marketers continue to experiment with new hybrid formats that merge news, entertainment, and advertising. Advertisers and filmmakers like to blur a critical distinction, arguing that the use of brand-name products makes films more naturalistic.
